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Where Financial Inequality Is Rampant [Infographic]

A recent OECD paper made the point that there is now widespread recognition that GDP measures or GDP per capita are insufficient when it comes to understanding households economic well-being. As a result, the research focused more on household income with a particular emphasis on income inequality. It analyzed the distribution of household wealth across 28 countries, finding that wealth inequality is twice the level of income inequality on average.

Tellingly, it also found that the wealthiest 10 percent of households hold 52 percent of total household wealth on average. By comparison, the 60 percent least wealthy households own little over 12 percent. As the following infographic shows, the situation with regards to financial inequality is worst in the United States where the share of wealth held by the richest 10 percent of households stands at 79 percent. The bottom 60 percent of U.S. households only hold 2.4 percent of household wealth.

The inequality gap is also wide in Europe and the top-10 percent of households control 68 percent of wealth in the Netherlands and 64 percent in Denmark. In both countries, the share held by the bottom 60 percent of households is negative which means that on average, these households have liabilities exceeding the value of their assets.

I am a Statista data journalist, covering technological, societal and media topics through visual representation. In fact, I love to write about all trending topics,…Read More

I am a Statista data journalist, covering technological, societal and media topics through visual representation. In fact, I love to write about all trending topics, illustrating patterns and trends in a quick, clear and meaningful way. Our work at Statista has been featured in publications including Mashable, the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider.Read Less